Alphabet is the large public technology company created in 2015 when Google became a subsidiary of a new parent company.
Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin announced Alphabet in August 2015. The restructuring placed Google Search, YouTube, Android, and other major businesses under Google, while separate ventures such as life-sciences projects could operate more independently.
Alphabet is the holding company’s corporate name, while Google remains the name of its best-known operating subsidiary. This distinction is a common source of confusion: Alphabet is the publicly traded parent, and Google is the company responsible for the consumer internet products most people use.
Alphabet’s businesses include online advertising, cloud computing, hardware, artificial-intelligence research, and experimental projects. Its shares trade on Nasdaq under the symbols GOOG and GOOGL, with the two classes differing mainly in voting rights.